Who Should Be the Next Head of the Group?
Kim Seong-ho stood from his seat, speaking on the phone with Jo Chung-sep.
"Are you certain?"
"Yes. Strong buying pressure is pouring in right now, centered on the Ilhyeon Securities accounts."
Urgency edged Jo Chung-sep's voice through the receiver.
"The index has already recovered to 800. Your profits have shrunk to thirty percent as well, Director. It's not too late even now. You should close out the positions."
A smile touched Kim Seong-ho's lips at Jo Chung-sep's words.
Just like last time, after all.
The moment he heard that volume was flowing into the KOSPI through the Ilhyeon Securities accounts, memories of the previous life rose unbidden.
Second Brother had overreached back then, too.
In the last life as well, after being driven from the presidency of Ilhyeon Construction, Lee Sang-jong had tried to prepare for the future by buying stocks through Ilhyeon Securities. That very move had become the noose around his neck, ending in his complete exclusion from the succession race.
Seong-ho had expected Lee Sang-jong to overreach and touch the markets again this time. He might even go further than before.
Unlike last time, he burned through three hundred billion won this round. He'll be thinking he has to recover on a much larger scale.
A light chuckle escaped him. Just as he was about to pose another question to Jo Chung-sep, a knock sounded at the door.
Knock, knock, knock.
Moments later the door opened and Hwang Do-beom stepped inside. Seong-ho gestured for him to wait a moment, then put the question he had been about to ask to Jo Chung-sep.
"How is the exchange rate? Is the won-dollar rate falling?"
"No. The won-dollar rate is still holding its upward trend."
"Then keep holding the positions."
"Keep holding? The market might have turned, and you still want to stay in?"
Confusion colored Jo Chung-sep's voice; the choice had clearly caught him off guard.
Seong-ho smiled as he spoke into the receiver.
"I do not believe the market has turned. So please continue holding."
Jo Chung-sep had no choice but to agree. The account holder had not changed his mind; an agent could not alter the positions on his own.
Seong-ho set the receiver down and turned to the waiting Hwang Do-beom with a smile.
"Chief of Staff. What brings you all the way here?"
"The Chairman says he has something to discuss with you. He wants you to come down at once."
Seong-ho nodded.
"Understood. Where shall I go?"
His eyes brightened with the question. Hwang Do-beom gave a faint smile in return.
"He says to come down to the basement."
"Asking me to the basement... so he has accepted my proposal, then."
Knowing that Lee Tak-hyeon had finally taken his advice, Seong-ho rose with a smile. Hwang Do-beom answered the observation with an awkward laugh and a nod.
"He has accepted it, yes... but it seems he has a few things he wants to impress upon you first. So try not to look too pleased in front of the Chairman. He might suspect you harbor other intentions."
It was a tactful way of saying the Chairman worried about power concentrating in the hands that now held the group's restructuring blade. Seong-ho inclined his head lightly and stepped ahead.
"You need not worry on that account. I am well aware. And I smiled not because my proposal was accepted, but because the Chairman made the right decision."
"Then that is a relief."
Hwang Do-beom recalled the call he had overheard upon entering and asked,
"What was that conversation just now? I caught a little—something about the exchange rate and holding on..."
"Ah, that?"
Seong-ho answered as if it were nothing of consequence.
"A call with the people managing my personal assets. I currently hold a position betting on a KOSPI decline, and they suggested I close it out."
He spoke casually as they descended the stairs, then seemed to remember something.
"Oh, and they mentioned something interesting."
"Something interesting?"
Seong-ho glanced back at Hwang Do-beom and dangled the bait.
"They said strong buying pressure is coming in centered on the Ilhyeon Securities accounts."
"That would simply be because Ilhyeon Securities judged it a good time to buy, would it not?"
"Ordinarily, yes. But that is not how I see it. The exchange rate keeps setting new highs, the financial sector—including Jae-i Bank—remains in poor shape... and we ourselves are preparing restructuring precisely because we anticipate difficult conditions."
Hwang Do-beom nodded slowly.
"That is true enough."
Seong-ho smiled and explained why the situation struck him as odd.
"With conditions this unforgiving, does a powerful buying wave not seem strange? Especially one centered on our own Ilhyeon Securities accounts."
Hwang Do-beom's brow furrowed. Exactly as Seong-ho said, the feeling of wrongness was strong. Then Seong-ho delivered the decisive line.
"Ilhyeon Securities may simply have made a bad call. A misjudgment by the decision-makers can inflict severe damage on the company, so it would be wise to look into it once."
Hwang Do-beom's face hardened.
"You are right. If the upper ranks at Ilhyeon Securities issued a flawed analysis without realizing how bad things are, it would be a disaster. I will have the secretariat check with Ilhyeon Securities on what is going on. Thank you."
"No need for thanks. It is only natural. I am family of the Ilhyeon Group as well, am I not?"
Seong-ho's smile eased the tension from Hwang Do-beom's features.
"Yes. Family."
Seeing the Chief of Staff look more at ease, Seong-ho smiled again.
"Shall we go, then? The Chairman will be waiting."
"Right. We have wasted time talking."
Hwang Do-beom took the lead. Seong-ho followed, a full bloom of laughter on his lips. He already knew exactly why that buying pressure had appeared at Ilhyeon Securities.
I only hope Second Brother does not overreach this time.
Picturing Lee Sang-jong's future, Seong-ho kept smiling as he trailed after Hwang Do-beom.
Seated across from Lee Tak-hyeon in the secret chamber, Kim Seong-ho eyed the mound of cigarette butts in the ashtray and spoke.
"Chairman. Perhaps you might cut back a little on the smoking? No matter how good the air circulation is in here, you have smoked far too much."
"Stop the idle chatter. I will try to cut down, so drop it."
Lee Tak-hyeon agreed to reduce his smoking, yet Seong-ho knew full well the man never would. He remembered clearly how cigarettes had affected the Chairman's end, but knowing Lee Tak-hyeon's stubbornness, he pressed no further.
"More importantly, I called you down because there is something I want to ask you."
Lee Tak-hyeon fixed Seong-ho with a piercing stare and posed the question slowly.
"In your view, who is best suited to become the next head of the Ilhyeon Group?"
At the Chairman's question, Hwang Do-beom's face drained of color. No one understood better than he how dangerous the inquiry was. Seong-ho knew it too.
Whoever I name will offend the Chairman's sensibilities.
If he named the eldest, Lee Mun-jong, first, he would be dismissing the very shortcomings Lee Tak-hyeon had long pointed out. And with Mun-jong already risen to Vice Chairman, discussing him as the next head could sound like pressure for the Chairman to step down at once.
He could not name the second son, Lee Sang-jong, either. After the three-hundred-billion-won disaster that had gotten him thrown out of the company, the man had no place in talk of succession.
The third, Lee Jeong-eun, and the fourth, Lee Chang-jong, had never produced clear results; they were insufficient for discussion of the next head.
Naming Lee Gyeong-eun would be an indirect admission of ambition for the group itself—also impossible.
No answer existed that would not cross Lee Tak-hyeon. Just as in the days of kings, debating the next throne while the reigning king still stood was tantamount to treason. For Lee Tak-hyeon, even speaking of the next chairman was the same as revealing other designs.
Hwang Do-beom's face remained ashen as he scrambled for some escape hatch for Seong-ho. Yet no matter how he thought, none appeared in the present situation. He steeled himself, half-convinced the best he could do was calm Lee Tak-hyeon when the man's fury inevitably erupted.
Unlike the Chief of Staff, Seong-ho remained utterly calm.
The Chairman is testing me.
Where there was a test, there was always a reason for it. As he considered why this particular trial had been set, Seong-ho realized the situation was turning in his favor. Give the right answer now, and what he wanted would fall into his hands. And he already knew the proper reply.
Seong-ho met Lee Tak-hyeon's unwavering gaze and opened his mouth deliberately.
"I believe Brother Mun-jong is the one best suited to the next chairmanship."
"What?"
Lee Tak-hyeon's voice rose. Behind him, Hwang Do-beom stared at Seong-ho in pure frustration, wondering why the man had immediately spoken Lee Mun-jong's name.
You should have said you did not know, or that you had never considered it!
Just as the Chief of Staff began to dread how he would soothe the Chairman's rage, Lee Tak-hyeon snapped at Seong-ho in a sharp tone.
"Do you truly believe Mun-jong is wise enough to lead the group?"
"Whether he is wise or not, I cannot say."
"What did you say?"
Lee Tak-hyeon glared, face flushed with anger, yet Seong-ho never wavered. He looked straight into the Chairman's eyes and continued.
"Wisdom can always be feigned or concealed. That is why selecting a 'wise' person as the next chairman to lead the group is not the correct choice, in my view."
"Then why bring up Mun-jong?"
Seong-ho answered in the same even voice.
"A person's temperament can be hidden or altered. But the relationship of legitimate heir and birth order cannot be hidden. That is why the kings of old passed the throne to the eldest legitimate son, and why they hesitated whenever they considered anyone else."
"Succession by the legitimate eldest son..."
Lee Tak-hyeon repeated the words, then asked again.
"And if Sang-jong or Chang-jong prove the better men? If they refuse to accept my decision? What then?"
"If Second Brother and Fourth Brother are truly superior, they will not destroy the group out of private greed. Once Brother Mun-jong holds legitimate authority and keeps Second Brother and Fourth Brother in line, the group will prosper all the more."
"Heh heh."
Lee Tak-hyeon let out a low sound of admiration. Seeing that no further doubt remained on the Chairman's face, Seong-ho drove the final nail home.
"But this is only an answer that stays true to the fundamentals. Only the Chairman can make the decision. Everyone else—myself, Brother Mun-jong, all of us—need only do the work assigned to us in our own places. There is no need to debate a subject like this."
He finished and inclined his head slightly. Lee Tak-hyeon regarded him in silence for a long while. At last the Chairman rose and issued an order to the still-startled Hwang Do-beom.
"Convert the Strategic Planning Office into the Restructuring Headquarters and appoint Son-in-law Kim as its first head."
"As head... Son-in-law Kim?"
Hwang Do-beom's eyes went wide as he looked at Seong-ho. The younger man showed not the slightest surprise, his expression remaining as composed as if he had known this would happen all along.
"And tidy up this secret chamber. I doubt I will be using it for a while."
The tormenting dilemma finally resolved, Lee Tak-hyeon wore a deep, satisfied smile.